Super-duper bird feeders

We had greatly reduced numbers this week, due to some illness and other unavoidable circumstances, but we didn’t let that stop us.

We had an absolutely fab time making really simple, yet effective, feeders to help our little feathered friends get through the rest of this winter.

Step 1:

Gather some sticks about the length of an adult hand.

Step 2:

Add bird seed, grated cheese and, lard or baking fat to a bowl.

Step 3: Get your hands right in there and mash it all up.

Step 4: Take a handful and mash it on to the end of a stick. Repeat until you have a big blob.

Step 5: Use a larks-head knot to tie a piece of string to the stick and close the loop with a simple over-hand knot.

Step 6: Find somewhere to hang your super-duper bird feeder.

Step 7: Congratulate yourself with a story, cake, and a cup of milk.

Remember, although it looks like a delicious lolly (and you’ll come to no harm from eating it), the mix is meant for birds.

And there we have it. We have two weeks left of this block and the next block, starting on March 11th, is filling up fast. If you’d like to get your young’un involved, why not drop us a message  and we’ll get you signed up.

Until next time…

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Natural Painting

We had another really lovely session this week. I thought we’d branch out and try something new with our crafty bits by making some natural paints and brushes.

After a little round of hide and seek, I told the children we were going to be doing some painting but we didn’t have any brushes. This was great because it sparked their imagination. After the initial groan of disappointment at having nothing to paint with, they all started thinking about what we could use as brushes and even had the confidence to start throwing out suggestions: leaves, feathers, ferns, sticks.

The next step was making the paint. For this we used turmeric, mud, and the seeds of a  pomegranate that had gone past its best. They loved smashing the pomegranate seeds with a cup…

and then really enjoyed experimenting to make pictures with their made brushes and paints.

 

We rounded the whole thing off with the obligatory story and cake.

 

If you have a child aged between 2 and 5 and think that they’d absolutely love to get out into the woods to be silly and get messy, why not drop me a line and we’ll get you booked up for our next run starting on March 11th.

Tree rubs and wriggly bugs

We came back this week, after having to take a surprise, one week, hiatus, following the early arrival of daughter number two. Florence was born on Sunday morning so there was no way of getting out to the woods the next day. In fact, I don’t think I even left the house until Wednesday and that was to take child one out to a toddlers group and give Mum a bit of a chance to sleep whilst the baby was.

Our focus this week was bugs so we started by getting ourselves warmed up with a bug hunt.

We searched under rocks…

and inside logs…

to see the different bugs to live in those different habitats.

We also looked under some dead bark to see what lived there.

After all that, we needed a bit of a rest so we read about some bugs…

Further showing my love of Julia Donaldson

and ate some cake.

It’s always nice to see your own daughter waiting until she’s offered. Today is not that day.

After all that, we got to know the different trees, and the varying textures of their bark, by doing some tree rubbings.

And there we go. That’s our weekly round up.

We have four weeks left of this run of Tiny Acorns. The next block of six will begin on March 11th.

If you’d like to get your child involved, why not drop us a message and we’ll get you signed up.

 

Bear hunts and bug hotels

Happy New Year!

We have just had our first session of the new year  and, I’m delighted to say that it was absolutely fantastic fun. It was so great to see the kids happily running around, reaffirming friendships and re-establishing their boundaries in a familiar place.

Everyone seemed to have come back a little more confident and a little bolder. Maybe it was the excitement and the beautiful, crisp weather. Either way, they all had a blast!

We kicked off with a bear hunt.

We’re going on a bear hunt!

Hoo Woo! Hoo Woo!

What could live here?

Next, we enjoyed cake made by Maggie-Rose, washed down with some milk.

Before making some super-cool bug hotels out of left over Christmas boxes and bamboo.

We even found time for an impromptu leaf fight!

It was so great to see every one of these wonderful, vibrant individuals today.

If you’d like to get your child involved, why not drop me a line and we’ll get you signed up.

Catch up

Well this is embarrassing! A whole run of Tiny Acorns sessions and not one update to show for it. What can  say? It’s been a very busy couple of months with the lead up to Christmas  and the rapidly approaching new addition to the family.

Well, now I’m back and it looks like I’ll actually have time to get the updates out there.

Let’s have a quick rundown of last season’s Tiny Acorns.

We did so much. In case you’re new to Tiny Acorns, let me fill you in on the set up. The group is aimed at children from around 2 to 5 years old, though we do have some younger ones  accompanying older siblings.

Each session is centred around a book, which I read in the middle or the end. I use the themes in the book to inspire a craft activity for the session and a woodland game. During the story the children (and usually the adults too) are treated to a piece of home-made cake or flapjack and a cup milk.

Here are some photos from this last block.

Making Christmas decorations

Adding seeds to the found nuts and mixing with some fat to make it sticky

Hanging our bird feeders.

MAking bird feeders with coconuts

Bird feeders

Finding seeds and nuts that birds might eat

The kids loved learning about what birds eat and then making feeders and fat balls out of coconuts. Everyone got to take at least one home and get very excited seeing birds coming and going to get sustenance over the winter months.

Some of the stories we’ve read:

We do read stories by other authors than Julia Donaldson but here we have Stickman, which we read for Christmas, and The Gruffalo’s Child, which we read when we searched for nuts.

Play!

 

Growing up is a pretty traumatic affair and play allows children to make sense of the world around them, as well as the constant state of flux that they, themselves, are in.

CAKE!

Well, biscuits. Ginger bread Christmas biscuits to be precise. This was our special treat to the kids for our Christmas “party”.

If you would like to get involved, we are starting a new run of sessions on Monday 14th January. Sessions are run in blocks of 6 sessions and cost £24 per child.

Why not get in touch to experience more time outdoors with your little one.